Chances Are
by historynerdrevolution
Summary: Adrian Riddle is a teen going through some rough times with her two brothers and her friends.  What are the chances that she discovers her English teacher went through a similar situation twenty years ago?  Revised Summary, T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the Outsiders. I own Adrian, Brennan, and Bryan.**

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><p>"Everyone, you will need to read pages 220- 234 and do questions 1-5 for both sections over the weekend. Class dismissed," The teacher called out to his class as they began to pack up their belongings and rush out of the classroom as fast as they could, rejoicing the end of the school day and creating plans for the weekend ahead of them.<p>

Ponyboy Curtis laughed quietly to himself, twenty years ago he was in the same position as his students and he certainly had no idea that he would be in the front of the classroom teaching them English. He sat down at his desk and slowly began to gather the tests and papers he would be grading over the weekend. He took a moment to glance at the pictures that lined the front of his desk; one photo was of his wife, another of his two little boys, and an older picture of him and his brothers when they were young.

Ponyboy grabbed the photograph by its frame and held it in front of him for a while. The photograph pictured him, Darry, and Soda twenty years ago. They had their arms around each other's shoulders and happy smiles reflected off their faces. The memory of taking the photograph brought a bitter-sweet smile to his face, they had taken the picture about a month before Soda was drafted and went to Vietnam, only to never return.

His thoughts and memories were brought to a screeching halt the moment he heard a soft knock at the door. He looked up to see one of his students, Adrian Riddle, at his door.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Curtis," she asked quietly, tucking a sandy brown curl behind her ear and taking a step into the classroom.

"Yes, Ms. Riddle. Please take a seat," Ponyboy smiled and motioned for her to sit in the desk directly in front of his.

Adrian obeyed, making her way to the indicated desk. She set her books and backpack down before sliding behind the desk.

"I was just wondering if you were all right, Ms. Riddle, you were absent for a majority of this week," Ponyboy asked the student, seeing her expression sadden a bit.

Adrian was what his other students would call a 'nerd'. Her outfits were somewhat similar to what he would wear when he was her age; t-shirts and jeans seemed to be her style, the exception that she wore glasses. She was also very focused on her studies, unlike the social life and fashions her peers were concerned with.

He thought about this for the few minutes that Adrian stayed quiet; looking down at the books on her desk and adjusting the oversized, dark denim jacket she was wearing. She finally sighed and looked up at him. "To be honest, Mr. Curtis, I'm not all right. This week has been, well, very hard to get through…"

"May I ask what happened?"

Adrian looked down at her books again, her hand clenched around the oversized sleeve of the denim jacket. "My…" Her voice cracked slightly, so she forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing, "My best friend, uh, passed away earlier this week."

Ponyboy saw the pain in her now tear-filled eyes as she met his and knew the pain that she felt. He could only bring himself to say, "I'm very sorry for your loss, Ms. Riddle."

Adrian shook her head and turned her gaze to look out the window before absent-mindedly saying, "It's just not fair, y'know? I just lost my parents a little less than a year ago, and then Brennan got into a car accident Friday and he passed away on Sunday… I was with him when he died, and there was nothing I could do to keep him alive… I never saw him so helpless before, his life just slowly slipping away like a fistful of sand..." A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away and returned her gaze to her desk. "Sorry," She muttered quietly, "I didn't mean to just lose it and ramble like that."

"Don't worry about it, I know that this situation you've been thrown in doesn't seem fair… but that's the way life is sometimes," Ponyboy tried to think of the right words to explain, very unsure if there was anything he could say to console her, "Trust me, it gets better though."

"Get real, Mr. Curtis," Adrian answered quietly, shaking her head in disbelief of what her teacher was trying to tell her, but it was more in the pain of loss than in anger. "What do you know about what I've gone through? How do you know that it'll get better?"

"I know because I've been in your shoes," Ponyboy explained calmly, reaching into his one of his desk drawers and retrieving a composition book that sat next to his beloved copy of Gone with the Wind. He stood up and walked over to Adrian, notebook in hand, "In fact, I'm pretty sure this can explain it better than I can."

Ponyboy handed Adrian, who took the old and frail notebook carefully, observing the faded image of a sunset emblazoned on it before setting it down with her other books gently. "You can read it over the weekend, just return it to me on Monday. I'm here for you if you ever need anything, Adrian."

"Thanks, Mr. Curtis," Adrian replied in a soft tone, having calmed herself down a bit. "I'm sorry that I exploded on you."

"It's not a big deal."

Adrian glanced up at the clock in the classroom, and suddenly became angry with herself. "Shit, sorry Mr. Curtis but I gotta jet. Bryan's waiting for me at the elementary school."

"Watch the language," Ponyboy warned before he waved to Adrian as she ran out the door. He then turned to his own desk, gathering the rest of his belongings from his desk. He wasn't looking forward to having to try ro resolve the argument he had with his wife that morning, but he was looking forward to being able to at least spend sometime with his sons this weekend.

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><p><strong>Author's Note- 1126/11**

**I know, I've been gone a long time thanks to school. But I'm back for a bit with this story, which will unfortunately only consist of three parts. Please tell me what you think. :D**

**Thank you** _benignmilitancy _**for your critique and pointers, they help make stories great! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I only own Caleb Riddle, Kelvin Ross, Troy Nichols, Xavier Coburn, Bryan Riddle, Chris, Liz, Jack, and last but not least Adrian Riddle. I can only wish I owned The Outsiders.**

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><p>Adrian practically ran the entire five blocks it took to get from Tulsa High to Tulsa Elementary just to be able to pick up her little brother in time. She always hated being late, because it threw her entire schedule for the day off and Bryan always hated to be the last one left. She was lucky this time, she had gotten there just in time and he wasn't the last to leave.<p>

"H-Hey Bryan," Adrian had just barely managed to gasp aloud, pausing to try and catch her breath.

The seven year old's eyebrow furrowed in worry as he observed the state that his sister was in before asking, "Adrian, was somebody chasing you?

"Nah," Adrian replied, having caught her breath, "I just booked it all the way from the high school so we didn't have to be late.'

"You're always running late though," Bryan smirked and shook his head quickly.

"That a lie and it wasn't my fault this time, Mr. Curtis needed to speak with me," Adrian defended herself, walking away from the elementary school.

"The one who you call a 'scumbag hoser who teaches math'," Bryan asked quietly, followed his older sister closely.

"No," Adrian rolled her eyes, "wrong teacher. Campbell is the scumbag math teacher and Curtis is the pretty righteous English teacher." She quickly rolled her eyes then laughed, thinking over all the teachers in her high school career.

"The one who makes you read all the bogus poetry?"

"Hey, we don't read poetry all the time," Adrian replied, kicking aimlessly at a rock on the sidewalk, "and the poetry he has us read is quite legit. It's nothing like the stuff Mrs. Weiss made us read last year."

"If you say so", Bryan rolled his eyes, "I don't know how you even like school, and it's so boring! Why can't I quit school like Caleb did?"

"Number one; you're only in the second grade so there would be some legal issues there. Number two; you're not gonna quit school, because Caleb and I will skin you if you ever do that," Adrian explained as she ruffled the boy's sandy brown hair, causing him to laugh.

"Hey Adrian," Bryan asked a few moments after he had stopped laughing, "Why did Caleb quit school?"

Adrian took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to explain it to her little brother, "Well, after mom and dad died, someone had to take responsibility for the family. You were obviously too young, so it was between Caleb and me. Caleb refused to let me drop out; I guess he felt like it was his responsibility as the oldest to take care of us. So, he dropped out and got his construction job."

"Caleb was a senior before he dropped out, right," Bryan asked quietly.

"Yeah," Adrian sighed, "and he could've got a scholarship for baseball too, but things just don't work out that way sometimes."

Bryan sighed, the smile he usually wore upon his face having faded sometime before, "I feel bad for Caleb."

"I do too, kiddo," Adrian replied quietly as she draped her arm around his shoulders, "I do too."

They walked in silence for several minutes before Bryan piped up, "Oh, Mickey was going to the park with some friends tomorrow, and he invited me to go. Can I go Adrian?"

Adrian gave her little brother a skeptical look, "Mickey Matthews? I don't know, kiddo, he can be… quite a spaz at times."

"Aw c'mon Adrian," Bryan turned to look at his older sister with pleading blue eyes, walking backwards while doing so. "Sure, Mickey acts like a spaz, but he's a good kid."

Adrian sighed, trying to resist the puppy-dog look Bryan was giving her, but she couldn't. "Fine, but I'm coming with you. If things start getting out of hand with you guys, we're going home. Got it?

"Got it," Bryan chirped happily, glad that he had gotten his way. He ran up to the gate of the house as they approached it, opening it like a gentleman for his older sister.

Adrian smiled and thanked Bryan as they went through the front gate, pausing as she approached the porch. "Hey Bryan, did you leave the TV on when we left this morning," Adrian asked, addressing the sound coming from the inside of their house.

"No," Bryan replied as he approached the porch as well, also hearing the sound from within the house.

"Jeez," Adrian sighed, "I bet Kelvin's in there."

"I bet you ten bucks that Troy and Xavier are in there too."

"Done," Adrian replied, pushing open the already unlocked door.

Bryan dashed in the house quickly, calling out over his shoulder, "You owe me ten bucks Adrian."

"Shit," Adrian murmured to herself, stepping into the door herself to see Kelvin practically glued to the television as one of The Muppet Show reruns was playing, drinking a Budweiser and wearing his favorite blue Gonzo the great t-shirt. It must have been his day off because it looked like he had been there a while. On the couch sat Troy, smoking like a chimney and fiddling with the black bandana tied around his head, and then there was Xavier, quiet as always with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his light denim jacket. "Hey guys," she said as she dropped her backpack by the door.

"Hey Adrian," Xavier replied quietly.

Adrian walked in front of Troy and Xavier, quickly snatching Kelvin's beer can away from him.

"Hey," Kelvin shouted after her, tearing his green eyes away from the television, "I wasn't done with that."

"You are now," Adrian replied, placing the can into the fridge, "You know the rules for when Bryan is in the house. And the same goes for you, Troy. Take the cigarette outside."

"All right, all right," Troy mumbled, rolling his eyes and slowly making his way to the porch.

"Hey Adrian, how was school today," Xavier asked as he meandered into the kitchen while Adrian ran about trying to make sure things were ready for dinner when Caleb came home.

"All right, I guess" Adrian replied as she poured some leftover chicken soup from the jar that held it into a pot, placing the pot on the stove. "The question is why you weren't there today?"

"Just felt like booking, I guess," Xavier ran a hand through his jet-black hair. "This week's been pretty rough on the both of us."

Adrian paused, thoughts and memories of Brennan flooding back into her mind. She pulled the dark jean jacket she was wearing around her a bit tighter, still being able to smell Brennan's signature scent of Drakkar and cigarette smoke. "Yeah," she managed to choke out without her voice cracking.

Adrian turned to see Xavier looking down at his black Keds, the bandage on his head standing out. Xavier was in the car with Brennan last Friday night when the crash had happened. Adrian would have been too had she not have had to work at the diner that night, but that was beside the point. The point was that Xavier came out with only a gash on his forehead while Brennan lost his life, and Xavier felt like hell for it.

"Hey," Adrian said, putting a smile on her face as she walked over to Xavier, "How's your head holding up?"

"All right, I guess."

"When was the last time you changed the gauze?"

Xavier thought about it for a moment, his hazel eyes tinted with confusion, "I think I changed it this morning, but I was so busy just trying to book it from the house 'cause my rents were fighting again. I may've forgotten to change it."

"All right, hard ass, sit down," Adrian chuckled, pulling out a chair from the kitchen table for him to sit on. Xavier complied while Adrian dragged another chair over by a row of kitchen cabinets to locate the first-aid kit. Of course, due to inheriting her lack of height from her mother, she had to stand on the chair to reach the cabinets.

Once finding the kit, she drug the chair back to its original spot and set the kit on the table, quickly rummaging around to find the gauze and medical tape. Then she set herself to doctoring Xavier's forehead up.

"By the way," Adrian mentioned as she replaces the gauze over the gash on Xavier's forehead, "There's a quiz in scumbag Campbell's class on Monday."

"Thanks," Xavier replied, trying to keep as still as possible so Adrian could fix him up, "Do you think Caleb would mind if I crashed here tonight with you guys?"

"Nah, you know that you're always welcome here Xavier," Adrian said with a smile, "The guest rooms always open for you."

"I know, I just feel bad if I don't ask is all," he replied.

"A gentleman and a hard ass, what a combination," Adrian teased, finishing replacing the gauze on Xavier's forehead. "I tell you what, once the gash heals over and you get the scar, there are gonna be girls flocking to you from miles around because of your rad scar."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Xavier dismissed her with a laugh.

Adrian smiled at Xavier, taking a second to glance at the clock in the kitchen only to jump up and start running for the second time that day. "Shit! Why can I never be on time?" She practically flew up the stairs and past Bryan's forest green room into her own midnight blue bedroom. She threw open her closet door and grabbed her uniform, a sky blue waitress dress, which was shorter than she would have liked it to be but she had no choice. She quickly got changed, leaving Brennan's beloved jacket on her pillow.

Adrian ran out of her room, skidding to a halt in front of Bryan's bedroom door. "Bryan, you need to work on your homework and try to get as much done as you can. I put some leftovers in the oven for when Caleb comes home, so you and him can argue over what you want to have for dinner."

"Why do I have to do my homework? It's Friday for Christ's sake," Bryan complained, looking up from his Captain America comic book.

"Watch the language, and Caleb will skin you if you aren't working on homework when he comes home."

"All right," Bryan sighed in defeat, closing his comic book and walking over to his book bag.

"If you need help, ask Xavier for help. Be good, love you," Adrian called over her shoulder as she went down the stairs.

"How come you never tell him to ask me for help on his homework, Adri," Kelvin asked, never once letting his eyes leave the television.

"Well, why would I want my baby brother taking advice from the guy who repeated his senior year three times," Adrian retorted, grabbing a jacket from the coat rack.

Kelvin threw Adrian an aggravated glance before turning back to the television, leaving Xavier chuckling quietly.

"Aw, come on Kel, you know I'm just yanking your chain. You know I've gotta ask someone to keep an eye on those two," I said in a light tone, shrugging the jacket on.

"I'll yank you're chain, babe," he murmured as his hand quickly darted out to grab me, but I easily avoided it.

"Kelvin Ross, come on! I know you're tricks, you're not gonna get me."

"Say's who," Kelvin turned his head to glance at me, a smirk across his face.

"Say's me; you've practically been living on our couch for as long as I've known you Kel."

Kelvin laughed, his green eyes gaining a happy light to them. "I can't argue with that Adri, now you go on and get to work. I'll keep an eye on things around here," he told her as her ran a hand through his dark brown hair before returning his attention to the television.

Adrian shook her head and grinned, "Xavier, please help Bryan on his homework if he asks. And keep Kel here from burning the house down until Caleb gets home."

"Hey," Kel called over his shoulder, his eyes and face holding a rather amused expression.

"Will do Adrian."

"Thanks. Hey Troy," Adrian asked as she stepped outside, "are you working at the Shell Station tonight?"

"Yeah," he murmured, fiddling with his dark blonde hair underneath the rolled up bandana, taking a drag of his cigarette, "You need a ride to Jack's?"

"Yes please," Adrian sighed in reply, "that would be great."

"All right, get in the truck," Troy sighed, blowing smoke.

"Thanks Troy," Adrian thanked him gratefully, walking over to Troy's beat up blue Ford pickup. Troy soon followed, hopping into the driver's seat before looking over at Adrian.

"Jesus Adrian, you know you could pass as a prep with the get up you're wearing," he mocked in an amused tone, making the old truck's engine sputter to life.

"You know that I'm nowhere near being a prep, Troy. I thought you would have known that from all the years we've known each other. Besides, preps don't wear glasses," Adrian replied, adjusting her glasses for emphasis.

"But you don't wear 'em all the time," he shot back, confidently placing one hand on the steering wheel and one hand out the window holding his cigarette.

Adrian gave an aggravated sigh, out of everyone who she hung around Troy tested her patience the most. Adrian kept her voice low, trying to keep from being angry with him, "Look, let me keep it simple for you. Saying that I would look like a prep without my glasses would be like me telling you that you look like a jock without the ridiculous bandana you wear around your head when you work." She kept her gaze on the road, absentmindedly fiddling with the hem of her dress.

"Jeez, you've really had a rough week if you're saying shit like that," Troy gave a low whistle, casting a side glance at Adrian. "You sure you wanna go in today? If you blow up like that on your customers like that, you won't be making any tips for sure."

"I took a few night shifts off earlier this week, and we can't afford for me to be missing anymore days," Adrian sighed again, resting her head in her hands.

Troy shook his head, discarded the butt of his cigarette and used his free hand to shuffle through the pockets of his denim jacket-turned-vest. He pulled out a pack of Marlboros, tossing them over to Adrian which caused her to look over at him. "Take this pack kid, I already got another pack."

Adrian smiled at the _kind_ thought, taking the pack of cigarettes and placing them on the dash. "If I start smoking, Caleb would kill me, bring me back to life, and then kill me again. But thank you for the offer; it's not every day that Troy Nichols attempts an act of kindness."

"Damn straight, that's because I'm no Xavier Coburn," he sneered, stopping at the red light

"Lay off Xavier," Adrian snapped at Troy, "That kid's got more problems than he can handle. He does nice things for people because he doesn't want anyone to have a shitty life like he had." Adrian was almost appalled by Troy's statement, but it wasn't quite surprising because he made rude, un-thoughtful comments like that all the time. "Why have you been trying to be such a hard ass lately? You've been making comments that go above and beyond your norm."

"Well, somebody's gotta take over Brennan's role," Troy shrugged, checking himself out in the rearview mirror. "Brennan was definitely the bad boy, but he was kinda like the glue that held us all together, so I figured somebody needed to act like him."

"Nobody needs to take over Brennan's role! Stop trying to be Brennan Richards and be Troy Nichols again," Adrian yelled a little too defensively. A silent moment passed between them, and Troy was still checking his reflection in the mirror. Adrian laughed, trying to lighten the mood from her previous statement, "You know, Troy Nichols the guy who works at the Shell Station part time. The pretty boy stuck inside the fugly body."

"Watch it," Troy growled menacingly, but the slight smirk on his face ruined the angry illusion. He pulled a cigarette from his pack as the light changed and quickly lit it, taking a long drag. "You are in my truck, and I'll kick you out of it if I want to."

"I'd be very disappointed in you then," Adrian gave a mock pout, "the diner's less the half a block away."

Troy laughed, exhaling the smoke as he did so. There was silence between them for a few moments before Troy pulled into the diner parking lot and sighed, "Well since I'm in such a nice mood…"

"Thanks for the lift, Troy," Adrian laughed as she hopped out of the truck and began walking to the diner.

"You need a ride home," He called out of the window after her, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"No thanks, I'll walk," Adrian replied, before adding, "Stop smoking so much Troy, you're like a chimney." She saw Troy laugh and give a small wave, before he peeled out of the parking lot.

Adrian chuckled to herself as she entered the diner, seeing the other waitress, Chris, sigh in relief. The place was packed, as it was usually on Friday afternoons, and they had been short handed on the weekends ever since Liz left on maternity leave. She ran back into the kitchen to clock in as quickly as she could, ready to help Chris with the rush.

"Adrian," Jack, the chef and owner of the diner had yelled out in a joking tone, imitating Rocky as he did so.

"I know, I know. I'm late," She clocked in and tied her sandy brown curls back into a ponytail. She ran out of the kitchen as quickly as she had come; ready to face the Friday night rush.

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><p><strong>Author's Note- 1129/11**

**Hello! :D I hoped you liked the chapter, just a little glimpse in Adrian's home/social life. I tried to get a feel for 80's slang, but I'm not quite sure if I got it right (since it was at least a decade before my time). Thanks to those who reviewed, favorited, and alerted**.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, but that would make a great Christmas present. However, I'll just stick with my ownership of Adrian and her group of friends.**

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><p>Adrian sighed quietly as she closed the front door, well after midnight, just coming home from work. She kicked herself mentally for not accepting Troy's offer of a ride home, but she had no idea how cold it was going to be when she declined the offer. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she grabbed the backpack she had left by the door and quietly made her way upstairs.<p>

She tiptoed past the guest room door and Bryan's bedroom door, taking note of the soft snoring from the guest room and the rays of a nightlight extending from beneath Bryan's door. She kept moving until she got to her own bedroom, quickly flipping the light on as she entered. With a sigh, Adrian hung her work jacket on the bedpost and set her backpack at the foot of the bed. She then went to her dresser, on the hunt for a pair of pajamas before deciding on Caleb's hand-me-down pajama pants and Brennan's Genesis t-shirt he had given her last year.

Adrian sighed, clutching the pajamas close to her as she exited her room; she made her way downstairs quietly. She made a mental note to be very quiet when she had gotten downstairs and snuck past Caleb's room, because Caleb would be very grumpy and angry if he was woken up. She finally slipped into her destination, the bathroom, and took the shower she had been wanting for over an hour.

After her shower, Adrian quietly walked up to her room and sat on her bed. Her sandy brown curls now appearing to be almost a light brown color, as they lay wet and limp on her shoulders, so she quickly tied her hair back into a loose bun.

She turned, gingerly grabbing Brennan's jacket she had laid on her pillow afterschool and pulled it over her arms. Adrian missed Brennan with every fiber of her being; to the others, they thought she was grieving for her best friend, but it was so more than that. She had loved Brennan, plain and simple.

Brennan was the type of guy that just screamed bad boy; he dressed like he was in a band, he went to parties, snuck into bars, and he had a love for fighting. Just the type of guy all parents everywhere worry about their daughters dating. He worked down at the Shell Station with Troy, but full time since he had dropped out of high school. And somehow, despite his reputation of being bad, his best friends were Xavier and Adrian, two kids known for staying out of trouble.

Adrian had known Brennan since they were kids, and they had grown up together within the group of neighborhood friends. They were practically inseparable, until Brennan dropped out of school in his sophomore year, when Adrian was only a freshman. They saw each other when Brennan wasn't working, but he made time to see her a lot more soon after her parents had died. Their feelings for each other grew over time, and sooner than Adrian could believe, they were dating.

Adrian didn't know why Brennan had chosen her out of all of the other girls in Tulsa. There was nothing special about her at all, and she knew there was so many other girls around that Brennan could have had, but he chose Adrian. Adrian gave a bittersweet laugh at the thought; best friends for more than ten years, lovers for almost three months. No one in the gang knew that they were an item; they had made sure of that. This was only due to the fact that everyone in the gang would have beat the living shit out of Brennan if anything had ever happened between them, but they never thought anything would happen. No one does until it happens.

She soon felt tears sliding down her cheeks as she recalled what had happened a little less than a week ago, losing the boy she loved more than anything. Choking back a sob, she forced herself to find something else to do. The leaned over the footboard of the bed and pulled her backpack up from the ground.

Adrian knew she had a lot of homework to make up for missing a majority of the week. She quickly began unpacking the backpack's contents, but her hands seemed to find the old, composition book as if they had minds of their own.

"I know because I've been in your shoes. In fact, I'm sure this can explain it better than I can," Mr. Curtis' voice sounded from the back of her mind. She sighed quietly, leaning back against the headboard of her bed, carefully opening the cover to reveal the first page. "Ponyboy Curtis, 'The Outsiders'," Adrian read aloud from the page, which was tinted yellow with age. She soon fell silent, reading the first line of the book.

"When I stepped into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note- 1217/11**

**Very short chapter and I haven't updated in a while, but school has been enslaving me with these torture devices they call "finals".**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders, just Adrian and her friends.**

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><p>"Jeez Adrian, are you ever gonna get up?" These were the first words Adrian heard as she woke up to being body slammed by one of her brothers.<p>

"I am now," Adrian groaned in annoyance, now fully awake as she flung the blanket off of her and over her assailant.

"No! No," Bryan screeched as Adrian pinned him down beneath the blanket and began to tickle him relentlessly, causing him to break into a fit of laughter. "Okay, okay you win," he managed to choke out, poking his head out from the top of the blanket, his face visibly red from the lack of oxygen.

Adrian gave a laugh of triumph, allowing Bryan to roll off her bed, "That's what you get for body slamming me first thing in the morning, kiddo."

"Yeah, yeah," Bryan rolled his eyes at her statement, "You just barely made the morning, its eleven thirty. How late did you stay up last night?"

"Pretty late," Adrian yawned, stretching slightly as she did so. "I stayed up reading something."

"Ah," Bryan nodded his head understanding, "for homework?"

"You could say that," Adrian replied with a smile. "So why did Caleb send you up here? I know he wants something."

"How'd you know that?"

"Because he knows I hate to be woken up and he always sends you to wake me up when he wants something," Adrian smirked, seeing her little brother's aggravated face.

"He does not," Bryan pouted, only causing Adrian to laugh.

"So really Bryan, what does he want?"

"He said that since you both had the day off, we should go see a movie and get some ice cream," the seven year olds expression trained from pouting to happy, "You know, just like we used to."

"Sure," Adrian smiled along with her brother, sliding off her bed and reaching into the pocket of her work jacket, pulling out the crumpled dollar bills she had collected as tips the night before. "I'm pretty sure I have enough to get us all into the movie if he can cover ice cream."

"Awesome," Bryan gave a bright grin of satisfaction, "I'll go tell Caleb while you get ready."

Adrian laughed at her little brother's antics as he ran out of the room, closing the door after him. She then turned her attention to picking out clothes to wear for the day, but her mind drifted off to the story she had read.

She had read the entire composition book that night, and that was the fastest she had ever read anything in her life. She fell in love with the story and saw how it had mirrored her own life and the people in it. She even cried as she read the last length of the story, knowing she would have to apologize to Mr. Curtis for the splotches on some of the pages as a result of her tears. It had helped her though, it had helped her come to an understanding of the loss of her parents and Brennan. Slowly but surely, it would get better; she realized that now. She just had to thank Mr. Curtis now, for sharing his story with her.

While she mulled the story over in her mind, Adrian had selected a dark gray t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, with the addition Kelvin's navy jacket he had given to her about two years ago when he had gone through his "growth" spurt, but she knew he just wanted to get rid of it.

She ran downstairs, headed towards the bathroom to finish getting, quickly dashing through the living room.

"Hey," Caleb called out to Adrian as she passed, not even glancing up from the newspaper he held.

"Morning Caleb," Adrian replied to him, rounding the corner by the kitchen and ducking into the bathroom, opposite of Caleb's room.

"How was work yesterday," He asked, turning the page of the newspaper.

"Work was pretty good for a Friday night, busy as usual," Adrian responded, quickly brushing her sandy brown curls and pulling them back into a ponytail, "How about you?"

"Miserable as usual," Caleb replied in a joking tone, causing Adrian to laugh quietly. "Hey, has Liz had that baby yet," Caleb asked, quietly listening for a reply for several moments. He had heard her muffled voice, but couldn't hear what she was saying. "You gotta speak up, Adrian, I can't hear you."

Adrian came out of the bathroom and down the hall to respond to Caleb, brushing her teeth at the same time. She waited until Caleb looked up from his newspaper to even attempt responding, seeing the shock fill Caleb's blue-gray eyes.

"Jesus-God, Adrian! Go in the bathroom and brush your teeth! Mom would kill you and me both if she was here to see you do this," he practically yelled at her, remembering how it was one of their mother's pet peeves when she was alive and how they would be punished if they were caught doing it.

Adrian cracked a smile and rolled her eyes quickly before retreating back into the bathroom. As she exited the living room, Bryan entered from the kitchen, laughing about the previous scene. Without missing a beat, Bryan began reprimanding his older brother, "Watch the language, Caleb. If I can't say that then you can't either."

Caleb rolled his eyes, running a hand through his short cut, rusty hued hair with a sigh, "Sorry Bryan, I'll try to restrain myself."

Bryan smirked at his older brother before changing the subject quickly, "Do you want me to go start the truck?"

"Yeah," Caleb replied, reaching into the pockets of his jeans to retrieve the keys to the black Dodge pick-up he had inherited from his father when he died. He tossed them to Bryan, "Knock yourself out kiddo."

Bryan caught the car keys with his signature smile, and then dashed out the front door to start the car. As if on cue, Adrian entered the living room from the hallway, with a smirk in her face.

"Now what were you trying to say a minute ago," Caleb folded up the newspaper, setting it on the arm of the couch.

"I was trying to say, 'why would you want to know unless the baby's yours'?"

Caleb burst out laughing, "Jeez, my little sister is a jerk."

Now it was Adrian's turn to laugh, "I'm only messing with you Caleb, relax. Oh, and I'm guessing Xavier left, right?"

"Yeah, he booked outta here with Kel and Troy this morning. God knows what kind of trouble they'll be getting Xavier into," Caleb replied as he grabbed his jacket from the coffee table and headed to the door, "Ready to rock and roll?"

"You bet," Adrian replied with a grin, following her older brother out the door quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, just Adrian and her friends, and in this chapter, the children of the original gang.**

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><p>"All right kiddos," Ponyboy Curtis announced as he parked his black Chevy Nova in between Two-Bit's patrol car and Steve's gray Ford pick-up in the parking lot in front of the park, "we're here."<p>

"Awesome," both of his sons shouted, quickly unbuckling their seatbelts and scrambling out of the car.

"Thanks Dad," Johnny, the younger of the two with jet-black hair like his mother, had stopped to quietly thank him.

"You two aren't getting rid of me that easy," Ponyboy chuckled, getting out of the car himself as he walked in the direction of the park, watching his two sons race each other. "Johnny, Dallas," He called out to them as they were getting closer to the playground in the park.

"Yes Dad," Dallas, the older brother with light brown hair like Ponyboy, had stopped to wait to hear what his father had to say.

"You two play nice with Mickey, Soda, and Dex, okay?"

"Got it, Dad," Dallas gave a mock salute to his father before continuing to race his younger brother to the playground.

Ponyboy laughed and shook his head, remembering the far ago days when he, Sodapop, and Darry used to do the same exact thing. He saw a familiar head of rust colored hair, now streaked with silver, so he headed in that general direction.

"Well, well, well; look what the cat drug in," Two-Bit laughed, flashing Ponyboy his signature smile as he approached.

"Hey Two-Bit," Ponyboy grinned in return as he greeted his old friend, receiving a few pats on the back, taking note of the navy Tulsa Police Department shirt Two-Bit wore under his leather jacket.

"Hey, where you been Pony? We haven't seen you around in a while."

"Grading tests and papers," Ponyboy shrugged, "I now feel bad for all the shit we would put our teachers through when we half-assed our tests and essays."

Two-Bit chuckled, "You gotta admit those were the days though, we thought we'd stay young forever and hang around your house all the time, but times change. You've definitely got somethin' coming to you when you get Mickey in your class, I swear to God that boy is exactly like me when it comes to habits in school. He won't pay attention to any of his teachers if his life depended on it."

Ponyboy smirked, "I'm having the same problem with Dallas, maybe it's because he and Mickey are in the same classroom."

Two-Bit laughed, "That may just be it Pony."

The two friends quickly turned at the sound of crying, ready to jump into protective father mode if they had to, but realized where the crying was coming from. Steve was trying calm down his two year old daughter, Emma, who was crying for reasons unbeknownst to them.

"Hey Steve," Ponyboy called out to him as he had gotten Emma to calm down, and was walking towards them carrying Emma in his arms.

"Hey Pony," Steve grinned, setting Emma down to toddle around them. "Where's Superdope?"

"You know Darry, he's rarely on time anymore," Pony chuckled, "I hope it's not a Curtis thing, because I sure got it coming to me in a couple of years if it is."

"It just might be, Pony," Steve said quickly before laughing along with Two-Bit.

"So Steve," Two-Bit began as he recovered from his laughing fit, "I've got a question for you. How come you ended up with both Dex and Emma today?"

"Evie got called into work today," Steve sighed, quickly redirecting Emma so she could avoid toddling into a puddle of mud. "So I've gotta take care of Dex and Emma today, which wouldn't be so bad if Dex wasn't looking to cause trouble when he can."

"Well what can you do, he takes after his old man," Pony commented, causing Steve to chuckle.

"Jeez Steve, if you would've let me know I would've brought Clara so she and Emma could play and could have given Eden the day to herself," Two-Bit replied to Steve, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't sweat it Two-Bit," Steve gave a nonchalant wave and cracked a small smile as he replied, "if she's anything like me, she'll find her own fun."

"Let's hope she's not too much like you, I'd hate it if she inherited your looks," Two-Bit commented, causing the three of them to burst out laughing.

"Aw, don't you listen to Uncle Two-Bit, Emma," Steve quickly picked her up before she stumbled over an ant hill, "you're going to be a beautiful young lady one day."

Ponyboy chuckled, glancing over at the playground to check on the kids. He saw them all crowded around the jungle gym, Mickey and Dallas climbing as high as they could while Johnny and Dex stayed toward the base of the structure, probably talking about what Mickey and Dallas were going to attempt. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Soda came running up to the jungle gym and launched himself onto it to quickly follow Mickey and Dallas, but not before giving a quick wave to Dex and Johnny.

Ponyboy breathed a slight sigh of relief; Soda was the oldest of the bunch of kids by three years, but he had a good enough head on his shoulder to keep them all out of trouble.

"Hey Superdope," Steve called out as he glanced just behind Ponyboy as Darry approached the group, "It's about time you showed up."

"Sorry," Darry replied with a chuckle, quickly throwing an arm over Ponyboy's shoulder, "It looks like the older I get, the later I arrive to things." He quickly changed the subject after they all shared a laugh, "How are you guys doing?"

"We're doing okay. How're you Darry," Ponyboy replied quietly.

"I'm doing just fine," Darry responded, cracking a wide smile.

"Superdope, where's Abby? She always comes with you whenever you take Soda someplace," Steve asked, passing Emma to Two-Bit since her arms were outstretched towards him.

"She's been over at Two-Bit's a lot this weekend visiting Eden. I have no idea what they're doing though, I know they're sisters and all, but they rarely ever spend this much time together."

"Y'know," Two-Bit interjected, his signature, devious smile spread across his face and an eyebrow arched, "She came over and spent a lot of time with Eden before she told you that she was pregnant with Soda. You think old Abs is pregnant again?"

"I don't think so," Darry shrugged, answering hesitantly, "if she is, she is."

"If the kid's a boy, will you name him after me this time Dare?"

"Not on your life," Darry replied with a stone-cold, serious expression, which caused everyone to burst out laughing.

"Jeez Darry, that's cold," Two-Bit responded as he recovered from laughing so hard, almost falling to the ground in the process.

"Not really, why would I ever name my kid after a bone head like you," Darry tried to answer in a serious tone, but the smirk on his face gave it all away.

"All right, all right you two, calm down," Ponyboy took a step forward and waved his hands in a mocking attempt to keep the peace, ceasing everyone's laughter for a brief moment.

"Hey, who do you guys think this is," Steve asked as he gazed at a black Dodge pick-up that had just driven up by their cars.

"Oh, that must be that kid Mickey invited to tag along," Two-Bit answered as he watched the boy with sandy brown hair jump out of the truck and race over towards the playground, "I think he said his name was Bryan."

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, waiting to see if the black Dodge would pull away, but they saw another figure scramble out of the car; a teenage girl who shared the same sandy brown hair as the boy. She turned and waved to the driver as they drove away, and Ponyboy groaned as he recognized who the girl was.

"What's wrong Pony," Darry asked as he waved an eyebrow at his brother's questionable behavior.

"That's one of my students."

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><p><strong>Author's Note - 24/12**

**BusyBusyBusyWithSchool... Yeah, you know how the story goes. :P Sooooo... If you got my reference to whom Darry and Two-Bit were married to, you get major brownie points! (Yes, I did get permission from Kitty to reference Abigail and Eden.) If you haven't read**_ KittyoftheNight's _For the Love of a Greaser**, go read it. Such an amazing story! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. Only Adrian and her friends.**

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><p>Everyone stayed quiet for a few fleeting moments, until Two-Bit began to chuckle quietly.<p>

"Well, Pony," Two-Bit grinned sarcastically, preparing to spring another joke on him, "What would Patricia say about you seeing a student, y'know, outside of school?"

"Jeez, lay off Two-Bit," Ponyboy rolled his eyes as everyone laughed at Two-Bit's joke as always. "If you weren't holding Emma, I'd really give you what was coming."

"Just remember," Two-Bit arched an eyebrow as he reminded Pony, "Even though I am off-duty, I can still arrest you." This only earned another aggravated sigh from Ponyboy.

"Aw, c'mon Pony, lighten up," Steve managed to say in an even tone after recovering from the fit of laughter at Ponyboy's expense, "What's the name of the kid anyways?"

"Adrian Riddle," Ponyboy answered in a quiet tone, leaving everyone quiet as they remembered the news from about a year ago when Matt and Lisa Riddle were killed in a mugging when they had gone to Chicago last fall.

Darry's face bore the most serious expression out of the three, but it was almost as if he was trying to mask the sympathy, sorrow, and understanding he had felt toward the Riddle children. "Those are two of the Riddle kids," He finally asked in a solemn tone.

"Yeah, I they are. I guess their older brother just dropped them off," Ponyboy replied softly with a small shrug, keeping his voice low since he understood the amount of sympathy he felt towards the children.

"They're in the same rut as we were," he finally sighed after a few, fleeting, silent moments. "You see Adrian almost every day, how do you think she's holding up Pony?"

"She seemed to be just fine until she missed four days of class this week, and when she came in on Friday she was real shaken up."

"Why's that?"

"She said something about her best friend dying on Sunday," Ponyboy hesitantly answered Darry.

"Now wait a second Pony," Darry muttered as he grabbed Ponyboy's arm and took him away from Two-Bit and Steve until they were out of ear-shot, "What was the name of her best friend?"

"I think she mentioned his name was Brennan," Pony responded as he rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous manner.

"That's the kid who got blind-sided by that semi on last Friday night," Darry sighed, running his fingers through his brown hair that was beginning to be streaked with strands of white and gray, "The kid's name was Brennan Richards."

"Did Two Bit tell you that?"

"Tell me that? Jeez, Two-Bit came over the house at two in the morning after he had gotten off his shift and made his rounds. He was real upset about having to work that accident, he kept saying something about the kid looking just like Dally," Darry explained to Pony before adding, "Steve knew the kid too. Apparently Brennan worked at Steve's garage part-time a few summers ago before, as Steve says, dropped out and took up work at the Shell Station. Y'know Pony, you gotta keep an eye out for Adrian. We need to help that family, and maybe if Bryan keeps hanging around the kids we can use that as the gateway for helping them out."

"Darry, I know you just wanna help this family and that's perfectly understandable. I'm sure if any of us were given the chance, we would help these kids out as much as we possibly could because they're just like us. But Dare, you gotta believe me when I say that these things take time. They're not just going to accept help and charity from random strangers and acquaintances very readily, I can all ready tell that by the way I see Adrian act is school," Ponyboy explained in a serious tone to his older brother.

"I know Pony, but we were the same way and you know it. We were so stubborn that we wouldn't accept help from anybody even if it came down to something so simple as buying us a pack of cigarettes. But out of anybody here in Tulsa, I'll bet they would take to us and listen to us more than anybody else because we know what they're going through. We've been there ourselves and we can help them through that."

"Well, I do see you're point Dare, but we don't know that for sure," Ponyboy admitted with a sigh, glancing over at Adrian who had moved from the parking lot to the swing set on the playground, looking very nervous and out of place. A pang of sympathy erupted from the bottom of his heart as he looked at the scene; they had to try something, even if they didn't know for sure. "But it's worth a shot, I guess. I'll try to bring her in Dare."

Darry gave a successful smile, finally glad of having convinced Ponyboy to do the right thing. "All right, Pony. I'll see you in a few," he called out over his shoulder as he was all ready turning, walking back towards Two-Bit and Steve who were making Emma giggle by making ridiculous faces.

"Yeah," Ponyboy murmured, shaking his head before heaving a heavy sigh. He then made his way over to the swing-set on the playground where Adrian sat, watching her little brother playing with his friends.

"So," Ponyboy began as he took a seat on the swing beside Adrian, "you're little brother is the boy that Mickey has been talking about all afternoon."

Adrian quickly turned with widened eyes, unexpectedly frightened as she was tore from her inner most thoughts, However, once she realized that it was only Ponyboy, she calmed down a moment later. "Yeah, I guess Mickey and Bryan are in the same class this year.

"My oldest, Dallas, is the same class with them too," Ponyboy admitted with a grin, before falling into an awkward silence with Adrian.

After about a minute of silence with Ponyboy, Adrian couldn't take it any longer and desperately wracked her mind for an interesting topic before blurting out, "I read the book you gave me yesterday."

"Oh, so you started reading it?"

"Well, started and finished," Adrian admitted with a nervous laugh, "I actually read it all in one night."

"Really," Ponyboy sounded astonished at the revelation, "well, what did you think of it?"

"Mr. Curtis, your story was incredible," Adrian told him in a simple, honest tone. "Have you ever considered publishing it?"

Ponyboy rubbed the back of his neck as he responded, "Well, yeah, but I didn't think it would be a great idea if I did."

"Why not."

Ponyboy took a breath to collect his thoughts before answering, "Well, I guess I saw it as the kind of story that wasn't really meant to be shared with the public, you know. Mr. Simes, my old English teacher, really wanted me to publish it, but I kept telling him no because I thought it was just a story to be shared with family and close friends is all."

"But I'm not a member of your family or one of your close friends," Adrian commented timidly.

"Well, you see, that's the thing," Ponyboy was struggling to find the right words, "You're going through the same this I went through when I was a kid. Granted I was a few years younger than you are, but we're still in the same boat. We both had a happy family and a good group of friends that's like family to us, and then we lost our parents and some close friends to death's grasp while trying to grow up and recover from that difficult experience."

"Well, with all due respect Mr. Curtis, I feel very honored that you would share your story with me, but I can assure you that we both aren't the only ones out there with families who share similar situations," Adrian chose her words carefully as she responded to Ponyboy, trying to make him at least consider publishing the composition book he had let her read. "I think that if you publish the book to put it out to those who shared similar situations as us or even if they don't, chances are your story has the possibility to change the lives of those who read it, and it may inspire them and it may change the way they see the world. It's helped me; I didn't know why I lost my parents and now Brennan, but your story has almost given me a sense of closure, and it'll help me get over it. It's given me hope."

Ponyboy was absolutely floored at Adrian's response; he was having a 'deer-in-the-headlights' moment where he had no clue what to say in return to her. It was just a depressing fragment of his life that he had to come to terms with and grow up quickly; he expected a totally different emotion to be evoked in her other than hopefulness. "Well, I'll, uh, consider it," he stumbled over his words, not quite over the shock.

"Thanks," Adrian gave a quick smile, looking past Ponyboy and over to the group he had just departed from. "So, I'm guessing that's Darry, Two-Bit, and Steve over there," She quickly asked him before seeing his confused expression, "They're descriptions match those in your story, if you add a few streaks of gray in their hair."

"Uh yeah, would you like to go meet them?"

"Of course I would," Adrian gave a small smile, getting up and following Ponyboy over to the group.

"Adrian," Ponyboy said to her as they walked towards Darry, Two-Bit, and Steve, "We're your friends now, so if you or your brothers ever need any help with anything, don't be afraid to ask us."

"Mr. Curtis, I can't promise that," Adrian sighed defiantly, acting stubborn as usual so not to hurt her family's pride.

"Well then, I'll make a deal with you. I'll get 'The Outsiders' published if you promise to not be so stubborn and let us help your family when you guys need it."

"Fine, you've got a deal then," Adrian replied, smiling inwardly. For the first time in a while, she took notice of the sun shining through the clouds in golden rays, and the sky just seemed to be a little brighter. There was hope for her family and friends, and chances are that after long last, things were going to start getting better for them.

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><p><strong>Author's Note - 215/12**

**Thanks everyone who took the time to read, review, and favorite this. :) I had a fun time writing this story, so I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. So comes the end of this little tale, but maybe I'll revisit Adrian and the boys sometime in the future. :P Anyways, thank you all once again!**


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